Importance of Palaeontology:

 It explains the evolutionary history (phylogeny) of the organisms.

 It suggests that the evolution has taken place from simple to complex organism
 In the beginning unicellular protozoan were formed, from which multicellular animals evolved.
 Some fossils provide connecting link between two groups of organisms. ex- Archaeopteryx, of fossils
birds retaimned certain reptilion features .thus it is a ‘missing link between reptilies and birds’
 Fossil records indicate the complex form of life that exist today arose from simpler forms of past.
 By fossils, we can studythe evolutionary history of an animal like stages in evolution of elephant and
man.

Pseudofossils: These are not the fosssils but give simple impression. Sometimes rocks present structure
resembling
s. plant remains.such plant structures present in the rock are normally products of minerals.
Infact minerals in rock get crystallized and develop patterns that resemble the outlines opf plant. Such
structres are called pseudofo
Evolution of horse
On the basis of fossils records, it is confirmed that the true ancestor of modern horse was Eohippus which
were lived 60 million years ago in the Eocene period. It was the size of the fox and possessed 4 limbs digits,
the teeth were 44 and chick were only specialized for grinding. From eohippus modified into
miohippus,parahippus and merichyppus since 27 million year back. The body size slightly increases with 3
digits in the limbs. Pliohippus came into existence with almost the size of the donkey with two functional
digits in the limbs with slightly extended Muzzele since 13 million year.
The modern horse equus gained full body shape since 2 million year back which is still continuing. Due to
continuous running habit limbs of the modern horse.
The measure modification accord in the course of evolution modern horse are as follows:
• Increase in the body size
• Increase of length and mobility of the neck
• Reduction in the number of toes from four to one
• Elongation of fore part of the skull
• Elongation of distal parts of limbs so that the wrist and the ankle are higher.
• Specialization of teeth(molar and premolar) for grinding grasses
• Fusion of metatarsals and metacarpals
Evolution of horse :

fig: stages of evolution of horse.

Evidences from Embryology: Embryology is the study of development and formation of embryo.
The evidence for the theory of organic evolution are explained below-
a)Similarity in the early development of animals:
The early development stages of multicellular animals are similar. All start their life from a single cell
i.e. zygote.
Egg zygote morula blastula gastrula formation of 3 germ layers
b)Similarity in vertebrate embryo: The embryo of vertebrates appear to be all alike in appearance and
it is even difficult to distinguish them during the stages of development.
c)Recapitulation theory:
The theory of recapitulation, also called the biogenetic law —often expressed using Ernst Haeckel’s phrase
"ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny". Every organism during its development repeats the evolutionary
history of its race.

Evidences from biochemistry

a)Similarity in chemical composition: In all living form four major elements like C, H, O and form organic
compounds. In all living organism C, H, O combined to form carbohydrates fats and proteins. The
protoplasm in all living organism have also the same composition. Therefore on the basis of chemical
composition it can be concluded that the living organism might have evolved from a common ancestor.
b)Precipitation test:
Serological test, also called precipitation test or antibody test, any of several laboratory procedures carried
out on a sample of blood serum (the clear liquid that separates from the blood when it is allowed to clot)
for the purpose of detecting antibodies or antibody-like substances. When the human serum(antigen) is
injected into a rabbit, antibodies are produced in the rabbit body. These antibodies are obtained from
rabbit and allowed it to clot. These antibodies react with the human antigens. Even the very dilute sample
of the serum when mixed with other serum causes its precipitation. About 5ml of blood of man and
monkey, horse and donkey, cow and buffalo etc. mixed together in the test tube shows less agglutination.
If the blood of man and monkey mixed together with the blood of horse and donkey immediately
agglutination takes place that is man and monkey must have close ancestor.
c)Enzymes and hormones: In large group of animals there are identical enzymes and hormones available,
suggesting organic evolution.
On the basis of the morphological characters, organic evolution further sub-divide into
Pattern of evolution:
following;
a) Progressive evolution: Gradual change in the animal character from the simple to
more and more complex. For e.g. origin of man from monkey like creature.
b) Retrogressive evolution: Development of the adults in primitive forms. For e.g.;
Herdmania shows character of chordates.These characters are the presence of
notochord,well developed nervous system and tail.However the adult herdmania does
not have notochord and tail.Nervous system is also much reduced.
c) Parallel evolution: Evolution of two similar different animals goes side by side in
their general characters during evolution. For e.g. old world monkey and new world
monkey.
d) Convergent evolution: It is defined as the phenomenon of acquiring similar
characteristics in response to adaptation to a similar environment by the individuals of
two or more totally unrelated groups.In other words the animals having similar
functional characters but belongs to different category of animals shows convergent
evolution. For eg; wings of bat, bird, butterfly, etc.
e) Divergent evolution: It is defined as the evolution of a variety of species from a
single ancestral species, each of which gets adapted in different ways to different
environments. In other words the Evolution from the common ancestor but looks
different in the morphological character. For e.g.: Hominoidea group like gorilla,
Orangutan, Chimpanzee and Man.
Theory of Lamarck or Lamarckism or Theory of inheritance of
acquired characters:

Jean Baptist De Lamarck (1744-1829) was a famous Botanist in that period has
written many books and articles and also discovered many plants. He was the first
man to coin the words biology and invertebrate. After the age of 50 turned his
interest towards the evolution of animals. In 1809 published the theory called
theory of inheritance of acquired character. In the French Science Journal
Philpsophie Zoologies. According to his theory said that the modifications gained by
the adaption will gradually hand down to generation as a part of heredity with
respect to environment which after long period of time changes into new animals.
The major characters of theory are as follows;
1. Tendency to grow
2.Formation of new organ
3. Use and disuse of organs.
4. Inheritance of acquired character.
Theory of Lamarck or Lamarckism
1) Tendency to grow:
Living organisms and their component parts tend to increase continually in
size. Each and every organism has the natural tendency to grow. The
increase in size is upto a certain limit which is determined by the life itself.
2) Formation of new organ:
-Production of a new organ results from a new need and from the new
movements which this need starts and maintains.
3) Use and Disuse of Organs:
- If an organ is used constantly, it tends to become enlarged, whereas lack of
use result in degeneration.
4) Inheritance of Acquired Characters:
- Modification produced by the above principles during the lifetime of
an individual will be inherited by its offspring, with the result that changes
are cumulative over a period of time.
Examples in Support of Lamarckism
Examples used by Lamarck are:
. Long neck of giraffe
. Disappearance of limbs in snakes
. Webbed feet of ducks
.Change in length of horse
Elongated neck in Giraffe
Evidences against the Inheritance of Acquired Characters
Weismann’s Theory of Continuity of Germplasm

August Weismann (1834-1914), a German biologist the main opposer of the inheritance
of acquired characters. According to him-
- The characters influencing the germ cells are only inherited. There is a continuity of
germplasm
(protoplasm of germ cells) but the somatoplasm(protoplasm of somatic cells) is not
transmitted to the next generation hence it does not carry characters to the next
generation.
- Cut off the tails of rats for as many as 21 generations and allowed them to breed, but
tailless rats were never born.
- Boring of pinna (external ear) and nose of women
is never inherited to the next generations.
- The wrestler’s powerful muscles are not transmitted to
the offspring.
- European ladies wear tight waist garments in order to
keep their waist slender but their offspring at the time of
birth have normal waists.
- Chinese women used to wear iron shoes in order to have
small feet, but their children at the time of birth have
always normal feet.
Neo-Lamarckism

Modified form of Lamarckism is called Neo-Lamarckism (neo

= new). Neo-Lamarckism proposes that
1) Environment does influence an organism and change its
heredity.
2) At least some of the variations acquired by an individual
can be passed on to the offspring.
3) Internal vital force do not play any role in
evolution.
4) Only those variations are passed on to the offspring which
also affect germ cells or where somatic cells give rise to
germ cells.
- Evidences in favour of the inheritance of acquired
characters support the Neo-Lamarckism.
Darwinism or Theory of Natural Selection:
Darwinism is a theory of biological evolution developed by the English
naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others, stating that all species of
organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small,
inherited variations that increase the individual's ability to compete, survive,
and reproduce.
Facts of Darwinism:
1.Enormous fertility or over-production
2.Limited food and space
3.Struggle for existence
4.Heredity and Variation
5.Natural selection
6.Speciation(Origin of species)
Salient Features of Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection:
The main features of the theory of Natural Selection are as follows:
1. over production (Rapid Multiplication):
All organisms possess enormous fertility. They multiply in geometric ratio. Some examples are
described below:
Insects lay hundreds of eggs. A cod-fish lays several hundred eggs at a time. A female rabbit gives
birth to six young ones in one litter and produces four litters in a year. Six- month-old rabbit is capable
of reproduction. If all the rabbits survived and multiplied at this rate, their number would be very large
after some time.
Each pair of mice produces dozens of young ones. It is assumed that elephant is the slowest breeder,
which matures at the age of 30 years and lives for about 90 years. Each female gives rise to about six
offspring.
Thus some organisms (living beings) produce more offspring and others produce fewer offspring. This
is called differential reproduction.
2. Limited Food and Space:
Despite of rapid multiplication of all types of species, food and space and other resources remain
limited. They are not liable to increase.
3. Struggle for Existence:
The struggle for existence can be of three types.
(i) Intraspecific Struggle::
It is the struggle between the individuals of the same species because their requirements like food,
shelter, breeding places, etc. are similar. Many human wars are the examples of intraspecific struggle.
Cannibalism (eating the individuals of its own species) is another example of this type of struggle.
(ii) Interspecific Struggle:
It is the struggle between the members of different species. This struggle is normally for food and
shelter. For example, a fox hunts out a rabbit, while the fox is preyed upon by a tiger.
(iii) Environmental Struggle:
It is the struggle between the organisms and the environ­mental factors, such as drought, heavy rains,
extreme heat or cold, earthquakes, diseases, etc. Thus, climate and other natural factors also help in
restricting the number of individuals of particular species.
4. Heredity and Variations:
Except the identical twins, no two individuals are similar and their requirements
are also not exactly the same. It means there are differences among the
individuals. These differences are called variations. Due to the variations some
individuals would be better adjusted towards the surroundings than the others.
Adaptive modifications are caused through the struggle for existence. According
to Darwin, the variations are gradual (continuous) and those which are helpful in
the adaptations of an organism towards its surroundings would be passed on to
the next generation, while the others disappear.
5. Natural Selection or Survival of the Fittest:
The organisms which are provided with favourable variations would survive,
because they are the fittest to face their surround­ings, while the unfit are
destroyed. Originally it was an idea of Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) who used
the phrase ‘the survival of the fittest’ first time. While Darwin named it as
natural selection.
The organisms after getting fitted to the sur­roundings transmit their useful variations to the next
generation, while the non-useful variations are eliminated. Darwin could not differentiate between
continuous and discontinuous varia­tions. In this respect, Darwin agreed with Lamarck’s views, because
according to Darwin acquired characters which are useful to the possessor could be inherited.
6.Speciation(Formationofnewspecies):
Darwin considered that useful variations are transmitted to the offspring and appear more
prominently in succeeding generations. After some generations these continuous and gradual
variations in the possessor would be so distinct that they form a new species
Criticisms of Darwinism:
.
1. Darwin did not mention about vestigial organs which are found in the
animals.
2. No mentioning about mutation because without mutation origin of new
species never takes place i.e. by natural selection new species never
evolved.
3. Variation whether somatic or genetic because only genetic variation are
heredity.
4. Natural selection theory explained “survival of the fittest” but not “arrival
of the fittest”. 5.Darwin did not take into account the hereditary principles.
6. He could not provide a satisfactory explanation for the cause, origin and
inheritance of variations.
7. Certain useless characters are also inherited. He could not explain the
inheritance of useless variations.
 .
Neo-Darwinism or Modern synthetic theory of Evolution
Neo-Darwinism (modern synthesis) The current theory of the process
of evolution, formulated between about 1920 and 1950, that combines
evidence from classical genetics with the Darwinian theory of evolution
by natural selection . It makes use of modern knowledge of genes and
chromosomes to explain the source of the genetic variation upon which
selection works.
The origin of species by natural selection become failure because for the
evolution of new species should change in the character of the genes. This
modern theory explains the genetic basis of the adaptation of a population
to new environmental conditions. It includes following concepts:
i. Mutation
ii.Genetic combination
iii.Natural Selection
iv.Reproductive isolation
v.Genetic drift
i)Mutation:
It is defined as the sudden, random and heritable changes in an organism.
Mutation. is the key character in the origin of species which takes place by;
a) Change in the characters of chromosomes.
b) Change in the number of chromosome.

c)Change in the characters of genes present in the chromosomes.

ii)Genetic recombination:
The rearrangement of genes that occurs at the time of gametes formation is
known as recombination. The recombination is the major source of genetic
variations in the population which play a significant role in evolution.
Iii)Natural Selection:
Animals that can fight for struggle for existence possess best variation and
heredity characters are said to be best of the best animal commonly called
natural selection. Further, natural selection creates new adaptive relations
between population and environment, by favouring some gene
combinations, rejecting others.
Iv)Reproductive isolation:
It is the prevention of intra-breeding between the population of two species.
It maintains the characters of the species but can lead into origin of new
species.
Separation of organisms of a species into several groups or populations
under geographical factors is supposed to be one of the most significant
factors responsible for evolution. It results in the prevention of mating
v)Genetic Drift:
The term genetic drift refers to the elimination of the genes of certain traits
when one population
. migrates or dies of natural calamity.The variation in
the gene frequency within population, simply because of chance rather than
by natural selection is called genetic drift.It was described by Sewell
Wright(the American geneticist).Unlike natural selection, genetic drift does
not depend on an allele’s beneficial or harmful effects. Instead, drift changes
allele frequencies purely by chance, as random subsets of individuals (and
the gametes of those individuals) are sampled to produce the next
generation.
Every population experiences genetic drift, but small populations feel its
effects more strongly.Genetic drift may be an important mechanism in
evolutionary change in small or isolated population.It is thought to have
been a significant factor in the origin of new species.
Evolution of Man:
It is assumed that the modern man might have been evolved from some
primitive eutherian mammals during cretaceous period. The first prosimian
primates evolved from these ancestors during Paleocene epoch of tertiary
period in cenozoic era. These primates were somewhat like the present day
tree-shrews and gave rise to present day lemuroids and tarsioids.
Lemurs and lorises represent the lemuroids. They are arboreal mammals
with grasping hands and feet,large eyes facing more in front,with long bushy
tail.
Tarsiers represent tarsioids which have arisen from lemuroids. They are
monkey like,nocturnal,insectivorous with flat snout and protruding eyes.
 Human Evolution:
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum: .Chordata
Sub phylum: Vertebrata
Group: Gnathostomata
Super class: Tetrapoda
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primate
Sub Order: Anthropridea
Family: Hominidae
Human beings have achieved tremendous development in electronic fields,
communication fields and space fields. But unfortunately still now nobody
knows the real ancestor.
Scientists TH Huxley was the first who wrote book about the evolution of
man in 1863. Similarly Charles Darwin in 1871 published the book called
Descent of Man. Similarly their came many scientist who discovered human
fossils and wrote books in different ways. It is believed that ape like animals
were evolved during Miocene period and man like creature developed in the
Pliocene period of Cenozoic era.
On the basis of the taxonomic characters there is no doubt that man evolved
from monkey like creature, the common group is Anthropoidea. It is
conformed that man and chimpanzes, gorilla, orangutan were evolved from
the common super family Hominoidea. Similary on the basis of genetic
characters the banding patterns in the gene of man and gorilla looks similar.
 1.Ape like fossils
Ape man. was developed from the Miocene period with having more or less
similar characters of the modern man.
Anthropologists Lewis 1930, leaky 1955 have discovered fossil of ape man
from the different regions of the world. On the basis of the fossil character
some of the ape man is as follows:
a)Proconsul:
-It is the primitive ape like fossil.
-found in lake of Victoria reported by Leakey in 1930.
-Its face was like apes but walked on four limbs.
-Its legs resembled with legs of man.
b)Dryopithecus:
-It is another fossil found in Africa.
-Its face was flat and probably walked jus like ape.
2.Ancient Human Fossils
The fossils of Ramapithecus,Sivapithecus and Australopithecus are
considered as ancient human fossils. These fossils analyzed following
characters;
a)Ramapithecus:
-It is earliest known direct ancestor of man.
-It existed about 14 million years ago.
-Its fossils were found from Shivalik hills in India and from Lake of Victoria in
Africa.
-West and Munthe also reported the teeth of Ramapithecus from Dang Valley
b)Shivapithecus:
-It is the .similar fossil as that of Ramapithecus.
-It existed about 10 million years ago.
-Its fossils were recovered from Shivalik Hills in India.
c)Australopithecus:
-It is the first human like form existed about 5
million years ago in dry land of Africa.
-Their brain capacity was 600 c.c.
-They probably weighed about 40-50kg.
-It was omnivorous, but mainly feeding on meat.
-They were about 3.5-5 ft. tall.
3.Modern human ancestor
Human evolution is the evolutionary process leading up to the appearance
of automatically modern humans. The topic usually covers the evolutionary
history of primates, in particular the genus Homo.A number of species
belonging to the genus Homo have been recognized from the fossil
records. These are:
i.Homo habilis
ii.Homo erectus
iii.Neanderthal man
iv.Cro-magnon man
i.Homo habilis:
-It existed. about 2 million years ago.
-It was 4.5 ft tall,walked erect,and weighted about 40-50 kg.
-It lived in open grassy land and was omnivorous.
-The cranial capacity was about 700 cc.
It used tool for hunting and defence.
ii.Homo erectus:
Two similar fossils were recorded from Java and Pecking about 50,000 years
ago and are supposed to belong to the same species Homo erectus.
Java man:
-Its fossils were recorded in 1891 from Eastern Java.
-It existed about 50,000 years ago.
-It had cranial capacity about 900 c.c.
-It was more than 5 ft tall and weighted about 70 kg.
-They might have constructed and used tools and also learned to light fire.
Pecking man:
-Its fossils were recorded in 1924 from caves near Pecking in China.
-It was very similar to Java man.
-It had undeveloped chin but developed eye ridges.
-Its cranial capacity was larger than that of Java man,i.e. about 1075 c.c.
iii.Neanderthal man:
Neanderthal man is supposed to be a primitive form of Homo sapiens and
hence also named
. as Homo sapiens neanderthalensis.Its fossils was found in
Neanderthal Valley of Germany. Neanderthals are our closest extinct human
relative. It had following characters-
- The forehead was broad with a huge nose and a prominent chin.
-Their bodies were shorter and stockier than ours, another adaptation to
living in cold environment.
-They were about 5 ft tall.
- But their brains were just as large as ours and often larger had cranial
capacity 1450 c.c.
-Neanderthals made and used a diverse set of sophisticated tools, controlled
fire, lived in shelters, made and wore clothing, were skilled hunters of
large animals and also ate plant foods, and occasionally made symbolic or
ornamental objects.
iv.Cro-magnon man:
-Height ranges between 5 to 6 fit tall.
- More intelligent than the prehistoric men.
- Nose further raise, cheek distinct, fore head distinct.
- Cranal capacity between 1590-1600 cc.
- Complete bipedal locomotion, body almost erect.
- Used animal skin as cloth, lived in colonies or in families.
- Development of highly sophisticated metal hunting tools.
Modern man:
Our evolutionary
. history is written into our genome?. The human genome
looks the way it does because of all the genetic changes that have affected
our ancestors. The exact origin of modern humans has long been topic of
debate. Modern humans originated in Africa within the past 200,000 years

and evolved from their most likely recent common ancestor, Homo erectus .